Charles Webster emerged in UK dance music in the 1990s, during the era of the superstar DJ and the super-club. He made his name in deep house, the slower, more soulful offshoot of house music. He was never a showman or would-be rock star, like other DJs of the time. There were no on-brand tales of debauchery ("I think to make party music, you have to party," Norman "Fatboy Slim" Cook once said). His 1999 album All Systems Gone, released under the name Presence, was rapturously received, but its modest chart success underlined its maker's marginal position in the commercialised world of club music. 

Webster has released records under a numerous array of stage names. Decision Time is the first solo album of new material to come out under his own name since 2001's Born on the 24th of July. It has an interesting cast of guests. Appearances by several South African vocalists point to his new base in Cape Town. Shara Nelson, the UK singer who featured on Massive Attack's Blue Lines, resumes a long history of collaborations with Webster on the track "This Is Real". US singer and poet Ingrid Chavez, who worked with Prince, appears on two tracks. One of them has been co-produced by the UK electronic musician Burial, who has cited All Systems Gone as an important influence.